A window blind cord presents a potential hazard to infants. An infant is attracted to a dangling window blind cord. The dangling cord swings back and forth, providing a source of interest and amusement. In the process of playing with the cord, however, the infant can be tangled in the cord. Infants have been injured when they fell with the cord wrapped around them. If the cord is wrapped around a sensitive area, such as the infant's neck, the injury can be fatal.
In order to reduce or eliminate the danger to infants window blind cord winding apparatus have been developed. An example of such a window blind cord winding apparatus is Canadian Patent Application 2,095,165 by Rozon published in 1993. The Rozon apparatus discloses a spool assembly which is capped by a retainer plate that extends across one face. This retainer serves to retain cord on the spool. The retainer is rotatable between a first or access position and a second or use position. In the access position a user is selectively provided with access to the interior of the spool through an elbow shaped opening. A pair of grip openings are provided. The user inserts his fingers into the grip openings in order to rotate the retainer to the access position. In order to attach the apparatus to a window blind having free cord ends, the cord bells at the free ends of the cord are removed. The cord ends are then threaded through a slot into the interior of the spool. The user then turns the retainer to the access position and ties the two free ends of the cord to form a knot that is large enough that it resists the free ends of the cord being pulled through the slot. This mode of assembly is not very convenient for the user. Furthermore, if the knot is not a sufficient size, the knot will be pulled from the interior of the spool during use. The Rozon reference does contemplate use with a single window blind cord.